Share this story

People love having a dance-based toolkit that is user-friendly and appears in their field of vision - they love that it’s hands-free and uses their voice to navigate the programme

David Leventhal

Save the last dance for Google Glass

Advances

Author: Geoffrey ChangPublished: 25 June 2015

Prep: Cook: Serves:

How innovative new software is helping patients dance off symptoms while reviving Google Glass in the process

People with Parkinson’s attending Dance for PD classes in the US are trialling new software for Google Glass that allows them to have virtual dance classes from the comfort of their bedroom.

Google Glass was seen as failure in the eyes of many. In January 2015 Google announced that it was going to cease sales of the eyewear device, while remaining committed to the future development of the product.

But now, new software developed by Dance for PD is reviving hope that Glass could still prove valuable for a niche target audience: people with Parkinson’s.

The software, called Moving Through Glass, plays back pre-recorded dance and warm up routines via the device’s optical display, which is fixed to the specially designed glasses frame. Once an exercise is selected, a virtual dance instructor appears and leads the user step by step through the routine.

David Leventhal, the director of the Mark Morris Dance Group’s Dance for PD programme, said: “Feedback, both from people with Parkinson’s and from neurologists, has been very positive. People love having a dance and music-based toolkit that is user-friendly and appears in their field of vision. They love that it’s hands-free and uses their voice to navigate the programme. They love being able to see dancers as ‘models’ for their own movements.”

The video content is displayed in the periphery vision and is designed not to disrupt the user’s reality, but augment it. This means the user can take the exercises with them wherever they go.

A year ago, Leventhal won a US$25,000 grant from Google’s Giving through Glass competition to bring the innovative concept to life. Although still in its first phase of testing, he hopes Google will want to support the second phase development.

He said: “The version of Glass we’re using now is no longer available commercially, but the silver lining is that we may be able to build the next phase of Moving Through Glass on an even more robust and affordable reincarnation of Glass that Google is working on right now. If that happens, I can see Moving Through Glass having a meaningful impact and being available to anyone who wants it, wherever they are.”

IN THE NEWS

A study published in the ‘Journal of Clinical Investigation’ has suggested mechanisms that lead to Parkinson’s in adulthood, may begin much earlier than previously thought. The study, carried out by Northwestern University, Illinois, US, researched movement disorder spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 by genetically engineering a mouse to mirror the human disease. Researchers found that altering circuity in the cerebellum – an area of the brain that controls movements – set the stage for later susceptibility to neurological disease. Professor Puneet Opal, who worked on the study, said: “This is the first discovery of alterations in an adult-onset spinocerebellar disorder that stems from such early developmental processes. “This may well be generalisable to a whole host of other diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.”

Global Kinetics receives vital funding

Australian-based health company Global Kinetics has received a $AUS 7.75 million investment from the Australian Federal Government’s Biomedical Translation Fund. The investment will be used to commercialise its Parkinson’s KinetiGraph – a smartwatch-style device that continually tracks the involuntary movements of those living with the condition. In addition to the sum from the Australian government, Global Kinetics also announced they are to receive a grant from The Michael J Fox Foundation, Shake It Up Australia Foundation and Parkinson’s Victoria. Mark Frasier, senior vice president of research programmes at The Michael J Fox Foundation, said: “The experience of Parkinson’s varies day-to-day, hour-to-hour. An objective tool, such as the wearable PKG technology, that passively collects data on the experience of Parkinson’s disease could give patients and their doctors greater insight to calibrate treatment plans and improve outcomes.”

Smartphone app detects severity of Parkinson’s symptoms

A smartphone app– created by researchers from Johns Hopkins University, the University of Rochester Medical Centre and Aston University – can detect the severity of symptoms in people with Parkinson’s, according to a recent study. The study, which appeared in medical journal ‘JAMA’, found that the HopkinsPD app generated severity score levels which strongly correlated with standard movement tests given by physicians. HopkinsPD is expected to help medical professionals analyse Parkinson’s symptoms. Dr Ray Dorsey, neurologist at the University of Rochester, said: “Until these types of studies, we had very limited data on how people function on Saturdays and Sundays because patients don’t come to the clinic. “We also had very limited data about how people with Parkinson’s do at two o’clock in the morning or 11 o’clock at night because, unless they’re hospitalised, they’re generally not being seen in clinics at those times.”